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Imperial Society of Historical Study
Deep in the Orsraun Mountains range, southwest of Iron fang keep, stands a stone monastery. It is the home of a very reclusive group of monks who reputedly practice a bizarre philosophy. The stone walls of the monastery stand like those of a fortress, forbidding and lonely, as if to discourage anyone from entering. The monks are unfriendly toward outsiders, and they deal with the outside world as little as possible. The reason the monks are so reclusive is the secret that they protect. Within the monastery is probably the most dangerous magic construction ever created by mortal or god, and they know the dangers should it fall into the wrong hands. Currently this dangerous device is in the hands of the Imperial Society of Historical Study, which is a group of sages, wizards, and others who study the history of Faerûn. This group, which was founded centuries ago, is not associated with any throne or empire any longer (though it might have been at one time). The members write about historical events in Faerûn, adding their own interpretations to the events, and they band together more for the prestige of being members than for any actual research reasons. That was, until recently. A small group within the membership really wanted to do serious work, and they did not like that other sages did not take the Society seriously. A recent dig in the ruins of Netheril resulted in the discovery of the rarest magical knowledge, and the group suddenly had a way to do unequalled study. The dangerous device within the monastery is their creation: a time portal. The portal is constructed in an arch 4 feet wide and 7 feet high. Instead of depositing travelers at a different point in Faerûn, this portal transports things backward in time but to the same place in the mountains (the monastery, or where the monastery "will stand"). The Society's wizards knew of the dangers of traveling backward in time and disrupting the flow of events, and they did not want disruption. They wanted to watch historical events as they transpired. However, the danger of the portal being used by Society members to affect the flow of events was too great, so they constructed the portal with variable destinations, including one spatial one in the present. The default and only spatial destination is a spot in the plains of Turmish, about a mile south of the city of Alaghôn. Society members use this aspect of the portal to reach the city quickly. Any gear or equipment with the creature traveling through the portal is sent instead to one of the five temporal destinations: 22,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago, 1,000 years ago, and 500 years ago. No living beings can pass backward in time through the portal. The time portal constructed and used by the Imperial Society of Historical Study could be a reality only through lost arcane magic. The Society found this magic while on a dig for lost records of ancient Netheril. A wizard who lived in the heyday of that empire conducted research into time travel and created a spell for traveling in time. He was on one of the cities that crashed and perished in the devastation. His knowledge was lost, until now. The Society closely guards the secret of this spell, knowing that in the wrong hands this knowledge could destroy Faerûn. Like all intellectuals, however, they cannot just eradicate the knowledge; they feel compelled to use it themselves, and they feel confident in their ability to guard their secrets. Spell Teleport Through Time Transmutation Teleportation Level: Sor/Wiz 9 Components: V, S, M, XP Casting Time: 1 round Range: Personal and touch Target: The character and touched objects or other touched willing creatures weighing up to 50 lb./level Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: None and Will negates (object) Spell Resistance: No and Yes (object) A far more powerful version of the teleport spell, this spell instantly transports the character to the same location, but to a different time. Interplanar travel is not possible, and the spell fails on any plane where time is meaningless. The character can bring along objects and willing creatures totaling up to 50 pounds per caster level. Unwilling creatures cannot be affected by this spell. Only objects held or in use (attended) by another person receive saving throws and spell resistance. To cast this spell, the character must be able to state the arrival time accurately, down to the minute. The spell never transports the caster and companions to the precise minute desired, but it cannot function at all without a specific minute in time to target. This "drift" effect of not arriving at the precise time desired grows with the "distance" through time (measured in years, months, and weeks) traveled. Thus, a caster teleporting to last month arrives closer to her goal than one traveling 250 years. The minimum temporal distance traveled is 1 day, so this spell is not useful for going back to the beginning of a melee that is still progressing. This spell requires some knowledge of the destination time, so it cannot transport anyone into the future since the future is entirely unknown to the caster. Even spells that give knowledge of the future cannot give definite enough knowledge to allow this spell to work. It is possible to use this spell to travel forward in time, but only to the point in the caster's life when the caster first went back in time. Since the caster may not know exactly what is transpiring at the destination time, prudent time-travelers prepare for the worst. The errors in arrival for this spell occur in time rather than in location, since the character does not change locations at all. To see how closely the character arrives to the planned arrival time, consult this table. Temporal Distance Traveled Temporal Drift* Chance of Mishap 1 day to 1 month +/- d8 minutes 5% 1 month to 1 year +/- d8 hours 7% 1 year to 10 years +/- d20 hours 10% 10 years to 100 years +/- d8 days 15% 100 years to 1,000 years +/- d20 days 20% 1,000 years + +/- d20 months 25% * There is a 50% chance that the number is a negative number. Add or subtract the temporal drift to the destination time to determine the exact time of arrival. Mishaps result in the spell failing and the character taking 1 point of Intelligence damage for every 10 years of expected time travel due to the mental bombardment that time travel brings with it. Thus, a character trying to transport through 100 years would take 10 points of Intelligence damage. Intelligence can be reduced to 0 through this damage (but not lower). In the case that a traveler meets himself, the two travelers instantly lose control and attack each other with every ability and item at their disposal. However, should a traveler die while traveling in the past, the traveler's body immediately vanishes from the point of time it traveled to and returns to the point where the spell was cast at the time that the spell was cast. In other words, if a traveler perishes in a fire, the instant that the traveler died in that fire is the instant in which the traveler is no longer in that time period, and the body is never found within that location since it returns to the moment of time in which the traveler finished the spell and began time traveling. Special Note: The introduction of time travel into any campaign can be fraught with peril, so tread carefully. Players will wonder how much they can mess with the timeline, and you may run into instances of the grandfather paradox. Further, changes made very far back in time cannot really be worked out completely because of the chaotic aspect of events. Thus, it is simplest to use the rule that changes in time are minor and somehow time smooths them out. This argues for a determinism and predestination in the ways of your world, but you can say that once events have transpired, small perturbations are possible (this person lives rather than dies, but does not contribute to events in a meaningful way), but the large-scale events themselves somehow happen anyway. If the cause is changed, another cause comes along. In the case of someone killing their own grandfather, the PC might find that he is the same but has a different family when returning to the present. As long as you keep the knowledge of how to travel in time restricted, your campaign will not fall apart. Material Components: The material components of this spell are a pinch of dead skin, a drop of oil of timelessness, and a flower grown in soil untouched by any intelligent creature since the desired destination time. The flower must be picked during the casting of the spell. Untouched soil is defined as soil that no creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher has walked on, touched, or disturbed in any way, and it is usually found in remote locations (putting soil in a portable container disturbs it). The caster does not know whether the soil has been disturbed too recently for the time travel attempt, and many wizards simply use trial and error to find suitable locations. In short, you must find a pristine area to cast this spell, then you travel back in time to the exact same location at which you cast the spell. Because important events in a character's life are highly unlikely to take place in pristine locales, it's unlikely you'll have the ability to use this spell to make two of yourself to appear in the same place at the same time. Once you cast the spell in a particular location, it is no longer pristine, making it even more difficult to arrange for three or more of your future selves to assemble together. XP Cost: 1,000 XP. With knowledge of the spell teleport through time, the researchers found secrets for building portals with temporal destinations. As with the spell, they closely guard this knowledge. Additionally, to prevent living creatures from traveling in time through their portal, the Society creates special survey constructs to observe past events. Create Time Portal Epic The character can create portals through time to specific temporal destinations, as well as portals to spatial locations in the same time. Prerequisites: Int 24+, Create Portal, ability to cast teleport through time. Benefit: You can create portals that traverse time rather than location, and you can create portals that have temporal destinations and spatial destinations in the present. The portals created work exactly as distance portals and can have the same features and restrictions on transport. Time portals with multiple temporal destinations reach different points in time no closer than one year apart. Setting up a portal for time travel requires some knowledge of the destination time, so it cannot transport anyone into the future since the future is entirely unknown to the caster. Even spells that give knowledge of the future cannot give definite enough knowledge to allow this spell to work. As with the spell teleport through time, some temporal displacement occurs. The errors in arrival for this spell occur in time rather than in location. To see how closely the character arrives to the planned arrival time, consult this table. Temporal Distance Traveled Temporal Drift* Chance of Mishap 1 day to 1 month +/- 2d8 minutes 5% 1 month to 1 year +/- 1d8 hours 7% 1 year to 10 years +/- 4d20 hours 10% 10 years to 100 years +/- 5d8 days 15% 100 years to 1,000 years +/- 5d20 days 20% 1,000 years + +/- 5d20 months 25% * There is a 50% chance that the number is a negative number. Add or subtract the temporal drift to the destination time to determine the exact time of arrival. Mishaps result in the portal failing and the character taking 1 point of Intelligence damage for every 10 years of expected time travel due to the mental bombardment that time travel brings with it. Thus, a character trying to transport through 100 years would take 10 points of Intelligence damage. Intelligence can be reduced to 0 through this damage (but not lower). In the case that a traveler meets himself, the two travelers instantly lose control and attack each other with every ability and item at their disposal. However, should a traveler die while traveling in the past, the traveler's body immediately vanishes from the point of time it traveled to and returns to the point where the spell was cast at the time that the spell was cast. In other words, if a traveler perishes in a fire, the instant that the traveler died in that fire is the instant in which the traveler is no longer in that time period, and the body is never found within that location since it returns to the moment of time in which the traveler finished the spell and began time traveling. Please refer to the spell teleport through time for more information on time travel and some ideas on how to handle it in your campaign. Survey Constructs The survey constructs used by the Society are basically stone golems that appear as elves, with some modifications so that they can observe and report on events. Survey Construct: CR 8; Medium-size construct; HD 6d10; hp 33; Init +0; Spd 30 ft. (60 ft. fast movement); AC 28, touch 10, flat-footed 28; Atk +11 melee (1d8+7, 2 slams); SQ construct traits, darkvision 60 ft., DR 20/+2, fast movement (60 ft.), magic immunity, playback; AL N; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2; Str 25, Dex 10, Con --, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 10. Height 5 ft. 0 in. Construct Traits: A survey construct is immune to mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromantic effects, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects. The creature is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, or death from massive damage. It cannot heal itself but can be healed through repair. It cannot be raised or resurrected. A survey construct has darkvision (60-foot range). Fast Movement (Su): A survey construct can move faster than normal (60 feet). Magic Immunity (Ex): Like a stone golem, a survey construct is immune to all spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural effects, except as follows. A transmute rock to mud spell slows the construct (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds, with no saving throw, while a transmute mud to rock spell heals it of all lost hit points. A stone to flesh spell makes it vulnerable to normal (not spell-based) attacks for the following round, without changing its nature. Playback (Su): Once the user has touched the construct and given the playback command (which can be tailored to a specific time reference, such as "Play back the events of day 23"), the construct replays in the user's mind everything it has seen and experienced during the time requested. It takes a survey construct only 1 minute to replay 1 hour of recorded experiences. When the user spends a minute playing back the construct's memories, it is as if the user experienced everything that the construct experienced. To get through the experiences faster and still retain the gist of the experience, the user must make an Intelligence check. The user can go as fast as 1 round per day experienced in terms of transfer rate: DC 10 earns the user a general idea of the events (someone entered the area), DC 15 gains the user a bit more detail (a drow entered the area), while DC 20 and higher grants the user knowledge of the pickier details (a drow priestess entered the area, harvested some fungus for an hour, then left after hearing something). The only sure way to get all the details possible is to use the playback command at the normal speed, however. Construction Survey constructs are made in the same way as stone golems, though smaller stone blocks can be used. In addition, the spells expeditious retreat and fox's cunning must be included in the ritual of creation. Category:Spellcasting organizations Category:Organizations in Turmish Category:Monastic orders